President R. King called the February Board Meeting to order at 4:03 PM at the Papa Gino’s in Natick.Seven people were in attendance: President Robert King, Treasurer Robert Messenger, Clerk Nicholas Sterling (departed 6:05 PM),and Directors Richard Kinne, George Mirijanian, Stephen Dann, and Marc Turgeon.The Minutes were taken by Clerk N. Sterling with the assistance of R. Kinne after N. Sterling’s departure.

Minutes of the December Board Meeting were distributed by N. Sterling, and a few corrections were suggested.* * MOTION made by M. Turgeon and seconded by

R. Kinne informed the Board that he had suffered from some recent health problems and would have to undergo surgery around next May.

President: (a) R. King reported that he had planned to propose an amendment to the Bylaws concerning the eligible voting class (he would exclude Junior Members under age 16) and the number of Director spots (he would expand it again after its recent contraction), but that the deadlines for submitting this proposal had elapsed, so it would have to wait until next year and the current Bylaw provisions be followed for this year’s election.(b) M. Turgeon’s candidacy for Vice-President (given that S. Frymer is not running again for that Office) was submitted just prior to the 2/15/13 deadline, and was accepted by the Board as in compliance.(c) R. King is not yet ready to make any proposals of investments because the information he needs about municipal bonds is not available on the websites he has checked thus far.

Treasurer’s report for the two-month period December 2012-January 2013 was read by R. Messenger [Clerk’s Note: all the figures below reflect this two-month passage of time]:

(a) (i) (1) Net income of the General Fund this period as of 1/31/13: $5956.27.

(2) Net income of the General Fund year-to-date as of 1/31/13: $1979.73. (ii) (1) Special Fund income this period as of 1/31/13: $249.68, with $85.60 dividends. (2) Year-to-date Special Fund income: $619.90, with $304.68 dividends. (iii) (1) Special Fund expenses this period: $3412.28.(2) Year-to-date Special Fund expenses: $4157.55.

(b) R. Messenger explained that within this period, transfers had been made from LMCF and the Prison Chess Fund back to the General Fund; hence the amounts of net income or net loss for both General and Special Funds were unusually steep.

Tournament: R. Messenger reported: (a) The Boston Chess Congress over the weekend of 1/11-1/13/13 drew in 170 players, an increase from 130 players from last year, but still short of the 200-player threshold Bill Goichberg was shooting for to break even.(b) The MA G/60 Championship will be held on 4/21 in Marlboro.(c) The MA Open will be held on 5/25-5/27/13 (Memorial Day weekend) in Marlboro.

D. Library 6 (=); D. Subscriber 17 (+3);Exchange 16 (=); Prison 271 (-16); Subscriber 9 (-2). Total change in Membership and Subscribers: +8.(b) R. Messenger explained that within this period he had removed from the “active” list any prisoners whose addresses had come back as bad; hence there was a sharp decline in the number of prisoners.

Scholastic: R. Messenger reported: (a) The 2nd Spiegel Qualifier had 79 players and took in a profit of $471.20.(b) The 3rd Spiegel Qualifier had 92 players and took in a profit of $839.46.(c) The 4th Spiegel Qualifier had 91 players and took in a profit of $834.30.(d) The Winter Team Challenge had 22 teams and 89 players and took in a profit of $549.53; there were some complaints that it had been announced only two weeks before the event, and that this was too late from some teams to get organized.(e) The Spiegel Cup had the Invitational of 30 players split into 3 sections with 10 players each, and had the Open High-School Section with 18 players.It took a loss of $736.64, but that was to be expected because the invited players had already paid for the tournament at the Qualifers.(f) The Gus Gosselin Grade Championship will be held on 3/10/13 in Marlboro.(g) The Hurvitz Cup Team Championship will be held on 4/28/13 in Boxboro.

M. Turgeon reiterated that someone else should be called upon to assist, or that the files be sent directly to Max Sewell, the Layout Editor.R. Kinne, however, stated that, despite his impending health problems, R. Messenger should press to get the Spring Issue of Chess Horizons completed and then turn remaining copy over to R. Kinne for publication of the Summer Issue. (b) There was talk about what a new Editor would need to complete the project, and the most essential item given was ChessBase, for the layout of game scores and diagrams.

Election: (a) The 2013 Slate of Officers and Directors is as follows:

President: Robert King (incumbent),Nathan Smolensky

Vice-President: Marc Turgeon, John Sadoff

Treasurer: Robert Messenger

Clerk: Nicholas Sterling

Directors: Richard Kinne

George Mirijanian

Stephen Dann

Walter Driscoll

Larry Eldridge

Kenneth Belt

Steven Frymer

John Sadoff

Robert King

Nathan Smolensky

Marc Turgeon(b) The tasks that remain are: (i) the creation of the Ballot; (ii) the checking by the Membership Chair of the expiration dates of the Memberships of all candidates – they must be 6/30/14 or later; (iii) the submission of Candidate’s Statements, and setting the deadline thereof.

(c) In answer to a question raised about how ties are settled, R. King answered that, should there be a tie in either contested election, the Board would need to select the winner in a tiebreak vote at its first official Meeting after the Annual Meeting (presumably in June).

(d) The Annual Meeting is set for Monday 5/27/13, at 9:00 AM, at the site of the MA Open in Marlboro.

New Business: (a) * * ADVANCE MOTION (213-1) made by R. Messenger and seconded by R. King to authorize the Tournament Committee to organize the 2013 New England Open as a MACA sponsored event.The VOTE was taken; the MOTION passed unanimously. * *

(b) * * MOTION (213-2) made by R. Messenger and seconded by G. Mirijanian that up to $500 in travel/overnight expenses be approved for MACA's Denker Tournament of Champions representative Mika Brattain, or an alternate should Mika be unable to play.The VOTE was taken; the MOTION passed unanimously. * *

(c) * * MOTION (213-3) made by R. Messenger and seconded by G. Mirijanian that up to $500 in travel/overnight expenses be approved for MACA's Barber K-8 Tournament representative Andrew Liu, or an alternate should Andrew be unable to play.The VOTE was taken; the MOTION passed unanimously. * *

(d) (i) * * MOTION (213-4a) made by R. Messenger and seconded by G. Mirijanian that up to $500 in travel/overnight expenses be approved for MACA's National Girls Tournament representative, who will be selected as the girl player residing in MA with the highest rating on the USCF March 2013 Ratings Supplement, and who accepts the invitation. (ii) * * MOTION (213-4b) made by G. Mirijanian and seconded by R. Messenger to postpone Motion 213-4a until the March Meeting.The VOTE was taken; with 5 votes in favor versus 1 abstention, the Motion to postpone passed. * *

(e) It was reported that many of the books donated by Paul Howard were sold at previous tournaments. David Harris now has the books he thinks he can sell and he is doing so. M. Turgeon has the rest and will be inventorying them. David has Boxes 2-9. G. Mirijanian has some "Larry Eldridge" boxes of books as well. We don't think we can sell these at the Game/60 tournament due to space considerations at the site. We can sell at the MA Open and will plan to.

(f) It was reported that Tiffany Wang has revamped the website. Individuals can now post their events themselves. G. Mirijanian thinks that the news section is now harder to find. The site continues to get constructive feedback.

(g) (i) The new South Shore Chess Club (renamed from the "Quincy Chess Club," D. Kinne found out) is running a "Boston Open" in May. Partially due to the name change of the club and the fact that no one remembered the President's name, the Board was in some confusion as to exactly who this was and if they represented a concern. They have advertised a May "Boston Open" saying that "a portion of the proceeds" would be donated to the LMCF. (ii) * * MOTION (213-5) made by M. Turgeon and seconded by S. Dann to investigate the organization running the "Boston Open" and determine what their intention is in donating to the LMCF.The VOTE was taken; with 5 votes in favor versus 1 abstention, the Motion passed. * *

(h) * * MOTION (213-6) made by M. Turgeon and seconded by

S. Dann for MACA to hold a Board retreat intended to conduct an idea-brainstorming session to come up with a possible five-year plan.The VOTE was taken after protracted discussion; with 3 votes in favor versus 3 against, the Motion was defeated. * *

President R. King adjourned the February Board Meeting at 7:22 PM.The date, time, and place of the March Board Meeting are Sunday 3/24/13, at 6:00 PM, at the Papa Gino’s in Natick.